2 down, 2 to go

It is hard to believe that after tomorrow morning I will be done with my sophomore year. Soon enough, the days of college will be over, and the reality of the job world will smack me in the face. To those of you who are graduating and moving on, best of luck to you in what you do. To those of you who aren't, enjoy summer so that when you come back, you will be ready to hit the library yet again.

Man's Best Friend

Naturally, as I gear up for finals while looking forward to going home, I am thinking about spending my summer with someone very special...my dog, Charlie (my parents too, but they don't do cool tricks like my dog). I guess it is because no matter how bad a day may be, a dog always has a positive outlook and wants to play. Some of the games that my dog loves to play consist of him getting a tennis ball and dropping it off the couch and waiting for someone to pick it up and give it back to him. Perhaps this reflects his ego and how he is a supreme being over all of us who give him preferential treatment. I have lost count of the number of times my dad feels jealous over all the attention we give our dog. He also likes to paw at tennis balls, and he is surprisingly good with his paws, almost like a cat. So I guess we have a multi personality/egotistical dog, but hey it's all in good fun. Another rather odd thing about my dog is his love for milk jugs and clothing tags. If he even hears you rinsing out an empty milk jug, which he will, he comes charging and will continue to cry until you give him it. Don't forget to put your new clothes away either, because apparently ripping off a price tag on clothes is extremely fun. I haven't tried it but I will take his word for it. Did I mention he consumes about 20 ice cubes a day? He no longer likes drinking water, and would rather eat it apparently. I think he is the first one to ever have that eating disorder. All in all, I can't wait for summer, so I can be the one fetching a ball for my dog, Charlie.

Roundy's.... Since 1872

As I just finish up a tasty bowl of Roundy's Frosted Flakes, I thought I would boast at how awesome Roundy's is. For those of you who do not know what Roundy's is, it is basically a company that gets food that tastes just like the common namebrand food items and slaps a roundy's label on it and sells it at a cheaper price. My trip to the store includes me scavenging the aisles looking for a Roundy's alternative to a common namebrand food item. I have gone the Roundy's route on a number of foods from spaghetti sauce to cereal. If something tastes the same and costs less than the common brand, why choose anything else? Or is it that we all buy things for the logo, or the brand-name because somehow they are better. We all would rather eat a bowl of frosted flakes knowing that Tony the Tiger thinks we are great rather than eat a bowl of Roundy's frosted flakes that has a lame logo of a polar bear hugging a spoon. Well, I use to feel that way... until I became a college student and now I always go with the cheaper foods. Looking back on it, I am glad I made the switch and am 100% a Roundy's Fan. Let me know if you are also a Roundy's fan or if you have any other money saving tips with food.

On Wisconsin

As the year winds to an end, it is always sad to see the seniors in the band graduate and move on. We have all grown so close with the hours of practice and hundreds of events performed at each year. I try to tell myself to enjoy my time in the band as it lasts, as I know I will miss it dearly. For the band alumni and the student alumni, nothing connects us with our time spent at the university better than music. While new members continuously join the band, and many graduate, the music of the band never changes. It withstands the test of time, and that is why it will continue to connect us all once we move on from the university. The following excerpts explain the history behind the music of Wisconsin. For more information on the history of the band and the traditions at Wisconsin, visit badgerband.com.

On Wisconsin is not only the University "fight song," but it has also been designated as the official State Song of Wisconsin. It is undoubtedly one of the most popular school songs in the country and has been adopted by thousands of high school bands as their own. It is rare to attend a high school football game anywhere in the U.S. and not hear On Wisconsin being performed by at least one of the school bands.

The melody of this famous song was composed in 1909 by W.T. Purdy, a corporation clerk who prior to that time had never set foot in Wisconsin. The words were supplied by Carl Beck, a former University of Wisconsin student. In the parlor of a Chicago boarding house, it took them only several evenings to compose. The pair (who worked for $10 per day each) couldn't scare up the $50 it took to publish the tune. They got a $10 credit from a firm of music plate engravers, used the credit for reference at the printers, and had 500 copies hastily printed.

Written accounts of the earliest performances of On Wisconsin reveal that the first performance occurred on November 10, 1909, when it was sung by the "Glee Club." Purdy performed the song November 11, 1909, at a giant pep rally before the Minnesota game. The song was an instant hit with students singing "Fight fellows, fight, fight, fight, we'll win this game." It was also reported that the UW Band performed the song at the Minnesota game on November 13, 1909.

Over the years many other memorable "events" have happened with On Wisconsin. In 1918, Purdy sold his copyright for less than $100. On July 11, 1959, On WisconsinOn Wisconsin was adopted by the state legislature and signed by Governor Gaylord Nelson as the official state song. Many rumors swirl as to who owns the rights to ranging from Michael Jackson to Paul McCartney. The song is considered to be in the public domain.

John Philip Sousa has called On Wisconsin, "the finest of college marching songs." Traditions such as this make On Wisconsin a personal university to faculty, students, and alumni everywhere.

Over the years, the Wisconsin Band has presented many versions of On Wisconsin. We give you two versions for your listening pleasure.

Lyrics

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Plunge right through that line!
Run the ball clear down the field,
(originally "Run the ball clear 'round Chicago")
A touchdown sure this time.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Fight on for her fame
Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight!
We'll win this game.

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Stand up, Badgers, sing!
"Forward" is our driving spirit,
Loyal voices ring.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Raise her glowing flame
Stand, Fellows, let us now
Salute her name!

Varsity For nearly a century this song of praise (originally a Latin Hymn entitled Domine Salvam Fac written by the famous French operatic composer, Charles Gounod) has held a special place in the hearts of Wisconsin students, fans, and alumni. It was in 1898 that Henry Dyke Sleeper, a young instructor in the University's School of Music, adapted Gounod's original work, arranged the music, provided words, and published the new version of the song he called Varsity Toast. Today it is impossible to attend an official university function without hearing those simple but stirring strains. In 1934, Wisconsin Band Director, Ray Dvorak, introduced the now famous "arm swinging" which has made performance of this alma mater one of the most thrilling "sights" as well as sounds to be found in any stadium in the world.

Lyrics

Varsity! Varsity!
U-rah-rah! Wisconsin,
Praise to thee we sing!
Praise to thee, our Alma Mater,
U-rah-rah! Wisconsin!

Songs To Thee Wisconsin is one of the best loved songs in the Wisconsin songbook and it is a melody which never fails to stir emotion in the loyal Badger alumni and fans. The music for Songs To Thee Wisconsin was composed by Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859), a German violinist and composer who considered himself an ardent disciple of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Spohr was a prolific composer who wrote oratorios, symphonies, concertos and chamber music. He wrote the melody which is used for Songs To Thee Wisconsin around 1853 calling it Proudly as the Eagle. The words were written by E. A. Bredin, who adopted it for Wisconsin. Although traditionally only one verse is sung, Bredin composed three verses to the Spohr melody. This song is played by the band during pre-game immediately after the concert tune.

The Wisconsin Band presents Songs To Thee Wisconsin in various versions throughout the year. Here are two of those.

Lyrics

Songs to thee Wisconsin, ever let us sing,
Praise to alma mater, ever let us bring.
Queen of all the west, college we love best
Queen of all the west, college we love best

May thy sons and daughters in thy jubilee
See the dawn of greater, grander things to be.
May thou e'er inspire, heav'nly wisdom's fire.
May thou e'er inspire, heav'nly wisdom's fire.

May we ever cherish memories of thee,
See the dawn of greater, grander things to be.
Queen of all the west, college we love best
Queen of all the west, college we love best

On Wisconsin Finale

Since 1976, the Wisconsin Band has concluded their final home half-time show of the season in the same manner ... with the On Wisconsin Finale. The music and the movements for this tradition stem from the finale of a production first presented on November 17, 1973, which was entitled "The Band Goes Abroad." Since then the Band has used the arrangement as a musical signature not only for the final home game, but also for a number of significant yearly events, including the annual Spring Concert.

The routine remains basically unchanged. While playing a maestoso version of On Wisconsin, the Band moves into a series of vertical lines. On cue, the lines flow rapidly into the letters ON WIS. As the arrangement nears its conclusion, the musicians high-step toward the audience. There is a long drum roll and a knee bow as the public address announcer assures: "We never say goodbye ... simply we'll see you next year ... and ON WISCONSIN!"

The finale never fails to elicit a standing ovation from the partisan Badger crowd and a very emotional reaction from all the graduating seniors who have just marched for the last time in Camp Randall Stadium.

The Summer Breeze

Us Wisconsinites finally got a taste of summer this weekend. It was the kind of weather that makes you wonder if you really have school the next week. I am so use to the cold days here in Madison that I often forget about the entire summer season. It doesn't help that I usually don't stay in Madison in the summer, but winter still has a way of erasing our summer thoughts. So when that temperature rises to 70 degrees, those thoughts slowly creep back. I think that everyone has an activity that pops into their head on the first warm day of the year. Some just like to read a book outside, get some sun and relax, or go for a bike ride. While all of those are great, my summer activity is definitely to play baseball, and this Sunday I did just that. I guess it stems all the way back to my childhood where my baseball league practices would start up in the spring and the summer would be met with games every week. Playing ball under the bright lights on a warm summer night will always remind me of being a kid. It is one activity that I hope to someday share with my kids the way my dad did with my brother and I.

Logically, with all these thoughts about summer, I spent very little time on homework. I am sure some of you have similar stories and I want to know what your favorite summer activity is.

spring concert

Last night was our dress rehearsal for the varsity band spring concert. We got to play with our guest artists Nat Mcintosh on tuba and sousaphone, founder of the youngblood brass band and Mark Pender on trumpet, from The Max Weinberg 7 on Late night with Conan O'brien. Nat was actually a student here at Madison at one point, and can do amazing things with his instrument. I have always been a fan of Conan O'brien and the max weinberg 7. Mark is the bald trumpet guy, he is hard to miss. They both are amazing musicians and we will be playing a number of pieces with both of them. My definite favorite is a song called Brooklyn by the young blood brass band where Nat will be playing along with us. Here is a music clip of the original song. Tickets are still available for tonight's concert and the weekend so don't hesitate!

Stress Relief

It's Sunday night and as I sit down to finish up my homework for Monday I find myself asking... where did the weekend go? The days of working for the weekend seem to be over, because it is quite the opposite. These past weeks I have had either tests to study for or papers to write and I find myself huddled away in some corner of Steenbock (the best library ever) at 10 am on a Saturday. It is hard to imagine that in a month it will be summer and I will actually be sleeping in until 10 am on my Saturdays. It just seems like too much to ask. I guess it is times like these that you keep working towards the light at the end of the tunnel. It is just hard to find the motivatio when you know another hurdle is waiting right around the corner. I suppose the best way to handle my stress is to read a book or play a video game. Those are the only two activities that seem to completely clear my mind. The only problem is both can be addicting so I tend to keep them on a minimum. I'm curious to hear what everyone else does to relieve stress from school or work. With the end of the semester approaching, I am sure all of us could use a few pointers.

For the love of the game...

This last week marks one of my favorite times of the year: the start of the baseball season! I am a Arizona Diamondbacks fan as I use to live there when the franchise started ten years ago. I even got to go to game six of the Diamondbacks v. Yankees 2001 world series (which we won by the way). After watching the diamondbacks franchise start their first season, to watching them win a world series, it is hard to ever like any other team. Now, after saying that, I must admit that the only other team that holds any spot in my heart is the Brew crew. I have spent my life either living in Wisconsin or Arizona, and my choice in favorite teams shows just that. I like the diamondbacks for baseball, and the packers for football. I mean come on, how could I even support the Arizona Cardinals when more than half of the people that go to the games go to watch the other team.

Despite that, I firmly believe that people should find "their" team and support them win or lose. That is the one thing that Wisconsin fans do best. It disgusts me seeing so many red sox hats and shirts popping up all over the place ever since they have won the world series. Baseball is a game built around the loyalty of fans, and each team needs that support. Don't go jumping on any bandwagons just because your team is losing and another team is winning. In my perfect world, all baseball games would be sold out regardless of how the team is playing, as fans just love to watch their team play. I would also probably take all of Alex Rodriguez millions of dollars and donate it and eliminate the Yankees from baseball (but that is beside the point). So for you brew crew fans reading this, I hope you supported your team even when you didn't have fielder popping fourty plus homers. Support your team not for the love of winning, but for the love of the game.

The Good Ol' Days

I always find myself thinking about how easy life use to be when I am stressed out. Each year it seems like more work is put onto your plate and you have to rise to the occasion of getting everything done. Had I known this fifteen years ago, maybe I would have appreciated my tough agenda of daily cartoons a little more. I was a fan of the Mickey Mouse cartoons when I was younger, even the mickey mouse club. But my favorite all time cartoons were Gummi Bears, Duck Tales and Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers. I even had a pair of chip 'n dale rescue rangers underwear, but that is beside the point. I of course watched Rugrats and Doug on Nickelodeon when I was a little bit older, and they are up there on my list as well. Today it just seems like cartoons keep getting weirder and weirder. I enjoy sponge bob at times, but that is about it. So I am curious to hear what were your favorite cartoons when you were a kid?

Menergy!!

Varsity Band Concert

This upcoming April, the Kohl Center will play host to the UW Marching Band for our annual Varsity Band Concert. We perform on three nights: April 17th, 18th and 19th. We bring in a few guest artists to play along with us and we play all of our halftime songs of the year. If you are a fan of Wisconsin music, 5th quarter, or just love a fun badger environment, don't miss out! You can even see our 70 year old director fly around the Kohl Center. It is a must see! Here's a clip from last years concert:

A little time at the office

I am a huge fan of The Office tv series. For those who like the show, most people like it for different reasons. Some just love Steve Carell as the boss, or some watch for the love affair between the receptionist Pam and the sales guy Jim. While Steve Carell is the reason I started to watch the show (and is absolutely hilarious), I have to say that Dwight Schrute, portrayed by Rainn Wilson, makes the TV show. Never before have I seen such an awkward looking and awkward acting character. The combo is absolutely hilarious and every scene with Dwight makes me laugh. The reason I am writing this now is because this last Thursday was my birthday and my favorite gift by far was a Dwight Bobble head. I absolutely loved the episode when Dwight receives his very own bobble head to place on his desk. The look he gives as he stares into the eyes of his very own bobble head will forever be etched in my mind. And now, even as I am writing this, I can look at the bobble head and just laugh. The perfect gift...

Cabin Fever

There is something about being in the woods away from existence that soothes the soul. This past weekend, I went up to my parents' cabin. Two days of no TV or internet, but just the cool winter air. From hiking through the woods, to cross country skiing, it is just what the doctor ordered for a stressed out college student. I recommend all of you to give it a try!

Where are you, Spring Break?

This post isn't even about my wonderful plans of spring break that will probably just consist of me waking up late, making a couple trips to the fridge and catching up with my old pal, television (some of you may be going somewhere warm, but I would like to point out that my apartment stays at a pleasant 70 degrees and that the travel channel can take care of the visuals). It may not be the ideal spring break (I admit actually traveling is far better than TV), but one thing in common for all of us students is that it means NO SCHOOL! I can manage to get by in those first weeks of the semester where you have a couple readings and homework assignments to keep up with. But... remember the first day of classes where you look at your syllabus and see all those hellish weeks ahead of you where a million things are due? I don't know about you, but I just put it in the back of my mind, since after all it's like a month away. Well it is officially time for those worries to work their way back into my cognitive thoughts. Seeing as I have too many things I have to get done than I have time for, it should be a great week. It is at times like this that I ask...

Where are you, Spring Break?

Winter Storm Warning

You know all of those alerts you get as you watch TV that tell you to not go out in the blizzard... why must the University of Wisconsin-Madison never be on the list for school closings. Is it too much to ask for us college students to get that childhood dream as well? In high school, I got one snow day, and it was glorious. The year after I graduated, they got one snow day and two cold days. This year, they have already racked up 2 snow days and a cold day. The reason this upsets me is that for them to get to school, they have to get to a single building, and stay there for the rest of the day. As a college student, we have 15 minutes to get from one building to the next, usually completely across campus. I'm not arguing that we shouldn't allow the high schools to close for the day, but for the university to cut us a little slack. Don't just cancel classes after 3:30, when most of the storm has passed. I lost count of the number of cars I saw stuck in the middle of the road and the number of people that wiped out on my way to class. It is funny at first... but who can honestly say they haven't slipped yet. So come on chancellor, let us college kids have that childhood dream back.

please?

One of the greatest nights of my life

I have been a huge Packer fan all of my life. I grew up here in Wisconsin, where many view Sunday as a holy day just for the football. In all of my years here, I never actually went to a live packer game at Lambeau field. That is not to say that I am lazy by any means, it is just that difficult to get tickets (for a reasonable price... I am a college student you know). This all changed two weeks ago, and if you are a Packer's fan, you can do the math and see what game I am talking about. That's right, two weeks ago was the NFC championship game played at Lambeau (it is basically the biggest game that can be played by the Packers in that stadium). Oh... but it gets better. Not only did I go to the game, but I was paid to go to the game. How?

It has been yet another luxury of being apart of the Wisconsin Marching Band. For both playoff games, they got a handful of us to play some of our 5th quarter music during half-time, to travel the stadium playing songs (just like we do at Camp Randall for Badger Games) and to hold the American Flag during the national anthem. As much as I love marching for the badger games and the atmosphere surrounding Badger football, I have never experienced a game like this before. Maybe it was the stinging cold, but I like to think that it was standing on that field with the American flag as I watched the Packer team come running out of the tunnel literally 20 feet away from me. I remember thinking, it doesn't get better than this. But it did.

I don't now how many of you know much about musical instruments, but you really run into some problems when playing in the negative temperatures. The biggest problem is, as a trumpet player, your valves freeze which basically means... you can't play any notes! While many desperately tried to warm up their valves to go play some music for the crowd, either by just blowing air onto them, or even using a rubber band to attach hand warmers onto the valves (brilliant!), a couple buddies of mine and I decided why not go play for the box seats and suites that are indoors! What happens next is basically a lucky chain of events. Pretty soon we were making our rounds, going from suite to suite playing some music, and receiving much praise from the fans. Turned out someone really liked what we were doing, and asked us to play in the room next door where the governor was at. We were all pretty excited just about that, the governor is a pretty big deal. Well along with the governor, in that same suite was the Secretary of the Packers, who invited us to go to the "executive" boxes to play some Wisconsin songs for them. That "them" being the coaches family, Packers executive, and other families. So what started as a simple idea of playing some music indoors turned into a private tour of the executive area of Lambeau. I have lost count of the number of times I have played On Wisconsin, our fight song, (mostly because the badgers tend to score a lot), but playing it in the executive box at the NFC championship Packers game has probably been my favorite.

While a Packer win would have topped the night off, I still can't help to think back to that night as one of the best of my life. Just being in that electric stadium on such a profound night, seeing Brett Favre play (hopefully not his last game!) is enough to make it an unforgettable experience.

Below I found a video on youtube of the band's performance during halftime (remember, the sound quality is poor because half of us couldn't play due to the cold, and the half that could... well... between your face being numb and the instrument being frozen.. you get the point.)




I have one of my personal pictures here.. it isn't even one of the game, well technically it is of the game because it is of a flat screen TV in the elevator on our way to the executive boxes. It's my favorite picture because it is a way nicer TV then I will ever have, and well... it's in an elevator! SWEET